Deviant songs: musical moment and utopia in contemporary queer cinema

Abstract

Music has affective powers. When inserted in narrative films, it is able to move the plot to another dimension, as well as to promote new forms of engagement through spectatorship. Thus, we can think of songs as a disruptive force, which emerges from the narrative and produces a realm of new possibilities. In this sense, how can we observe this disruption as a possible source of deviant potentials? In what ways can these moments give way to “other” affects, or queer affects? Based mainly on the concepts of the “affective-performative” by Elena Del Río (2008), “musical moment” by Amy Herzog (2010) and “utopia” by Richard Dyer (2002) and José Muñoz (2009), I analyze musical moments in contemporary queer cinema, by observing the way that it uses music to construct its queer images.